by Alexa Davis
Laynee and Landon looked to be a fully-fledged couple now, flushed with the early signs of love. She’d told Eliza as much during their endless phone conversations and video chats, which I’d been there to overhear, but seeing it in front of us in real life was something very different. It somehow felt that much more real. I had guessed something could develop, and it seemed that I was right. The chemistry between them was obvious.
As they stood in front of the factory, showing off the expansion and new equipment that Landon had purchased with my investment, Laynee had her hand hanging loosely in his, and every time they thought someone wasn’t looking, she kept giving him sneaky kisses. They seemed amazing together, and Eliza seemed happy with their relationship, which was all I needed. I liked the both of them, and I was glad to see them happy now.
“I know, they suit each other, don’t they?” I was so pleased with my matchmaking skills; I couldn’t believe how good I was at this. Maybe I needed to start matchmaking some of my other friends… “They look great together, and it seems like the salon is doing amazing, too.”
Laynee had a new employee these days, Rae, and they did the whole tanning booth and party thing that had been her idea all along. I got the sense that Eliza was a little jealous, that she was acutely aware it could have been her, but I also knew that she was happy with her life.
She hadn’t actually taken my advice to open her own salon on the Vegas strip, but she’d taken a job in a school teaching hairdressing, which actually suited her much better. I knew she enjoyed the creativity that came with it. Students and people willing to have their hair done by students were much more willing to do wacky things with their hair than the older people she’d become accustomed to in Florence.
“I’m so proud of Laynee for what she’s achieved,” Eliza continued with a big, beaming smile across her face. “Landon, too; this is incredible. And you helped them do this – you must be proud of what you’ve done.”
Of course, I was proud. This actually felt worthwhile, like a very good use of my money. It was like watching children grow, seeing businesses I’d helped progress into something amazing.
“He’s got some new fishing boats, as well, if you’re ever up for it.” I nudged her playfully. It had quickly become obvious on that fateful day that fishing wasn’t for Eliza, and every now and again when the topic would come up, I’d tease her mercilessly about it. It was a nice memory, really, one that made us both laugh.
“Yeah, maybe,” she replied snootily, choosing to ignore my jibe. “We’ll see, maybe this whole fishing thing will be so much easier if I’m not lost in gossip. You forget that Laynee was telling me about her feelings for Landon at the time.”
“Sure, that’s it.” I nodded seriously. “It isn’t that you suck at fishing at all.”
“Oh, stop it! Look, the drink tent has opened!” Landon was using the day of showing off his new projects for the future as a chance to throw a party for the whole town, and by the looks of it, everyone had turned up. Eliza kept getting dragged away for conversations with her ex-customers; it seemed that they all they had for positive words for us. They all seemed over the moon, which strengthened her resolve in us.
“Okay, I’ll go and get some drinks.”
I jumped right to the front of the line and got back quickly, just in time to hear Eliza having a conversation with someone I quickly realized was a very important person in our lives. She might not have realized it, but Mrs. Edwards’ romance story, which Eliza had then shared with me, had given her the courage to take the plunge with me.
“I heard all about your big move to Nevada. How is that going?” I stood back so I could hear, but not so that I was in the way.
“It’s great! I mean, it was scary at first, but I feel like I’m finding myself, spreading my wings. And, it’s all thanks to you. If you hadn’t told me your love story, I don’t think I ever would have been brave enough to take that step.” I felt a sense of pride that she’d felt happy enough to share that. I knew how much she wanted to extend her gratitude.
“Really?” Mrs. Edwards clutched her chest and tears filled her eyes. “I never thought that my story could impact anyone else. I just did it for me, but to know that it’s helped you is amazing. Oh, and here he is…” She spotted me, the jig was up, but all that meant was that I could join in the chat now, too.
***
The rest of the day passed in a fun haze. I loved the community spirit that came with Florence, and I did miss that during my time away. I knew that if I felt that way, and I’d only been there for a while, then Eliza must be feeling it, which was why I felt glad that I had a surprise waiting for her.
“We will have to come more.” Eliza wrapped her arms tightly around me from behind, seemingly reading my mind. “Florence is awesome. I keep forgetting that. Life is crazy in Vegas, and I love that, but I do miss it here, too.”
“Yeah, it is,” I told her seriously, spinning around to face her. “I agree, we should come more, and I actually have a little surprise for you. But I can’t show you until we get back to your grandmother’s cabin.” I was teasing her, winding her up, but I hoped that in the end, it would all be worth it.
“What?” Eliza’s eyes shone with happiness. “What do you mean? Can we go now?” She glanced around the rest of the party. “The party is winding down anyway, and Laynee won’t mind if we skip out a little early. We’ve been here all day.”
“Yeah, go on then; let’s do it.” I couldn’t wait to get her alone anyway, so what more could I ask for? “Let’s say goodbye.”
Finally, we hopped into a cab and rode along the road to the cabin, my excitement level growing the whole time. I couldn’t wait for Eliza to see what I’d done with her grandma’s cabin.
I’d hired maintenance people and cleaners to do the place up, and now she was about to see that. I wasn’t totally sure what had happened, since I’d been doing my part of it all over the phone, but as we pulled up, I could see that I’d made the right choice. Even from here, it looked amazing. Nothing had been damaged exactly, but it was all a little out of date and now it was the sort of place that could certainly be lived in.
“What did you do?” Eliza exclaimed excitedly, slipping out of the cab with awe in her eyes. “This is crazy.” It was all worth it, just to see her so happy.
“I’ve fixed the place up,” I told her with pride. “I hired out some people and got it all fixed up so it’s in much better condition for you.”
“So now we can rent it out more?” she asked, missing the main intention behind my plan completely.
“Well, actually...” I turned to face her with a question in my eyes. I knew she might not want to go for my plan, and if that was the case, I’d just have to accept it. Whatever I’d done, it wasn’t my cabin.
“I thought that we could keep it just for us. To me, it feels like a special place, and I guess I don’t want to share it with anyone else,” I admitted, hoping that she felt the same way. “I mean, money isn’t an issue now, so you don’t need to. If you’d prefer to, I understand.” I was happy to support her financially, even if she wasn’t totally comfortable with me doing so, especially if it meant we could get this place to ourselves.
“No, I love that idea,” she told me with tears filling her eyes, emotion totally getting the better of her. “That’s amazing. I just cannot believe that you would even think about that, never mind do it. Especially not just for me.”
“Well, it is for me, too.” I smiled, holding her hand. “Shall we go inside? I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to see the place.”
I unlocked the door and pushed it open, my heart leaping into my throat as I saw what lay ahead. Luckily, the people I’d hired had done exactly what I’d asked for, which I hoped would keep Eliza happy, too.
Mostly, it still looked the same, which was what I was going for. Nothing had changed, so the essence of Eliza’s childhood was still there, but everything had been fixed up and improved, a sheen added to it.
“And, of course, I kept the coffee pot.” I grinned, moving into the kitchen. “I could never get rid of that. Since most of our memories are in the damn ancient thing!” I flicked it on and turned to glance at Eliza curiously. “Is this okay? I mean I know I took a big leap here, so I hope you don’t mind.” She could have been mad. I was suddenly acutely aware of that, and I just wanted to check that she was totally fine with me meddling with something of hers.
“I love it.” Relief flooded me as she announced it with an air of finality. “It’s so nice.”
“And now we have a home away from home, too. I know you miss it here, and I do, too; so we can come and visit more,” I gushed, excitement getting the better of me. “You can take time off work when you want, maybe rearrange your hours to be part-time. We can split our time between the two places, just like we originally discussed.”
“This is amazing. You are so great!” She threw her arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. “I love you; I love you so much.”
“Obviously, I love you, too.” I grinned, pleased that my gesture had been taken so well. I was starting to pride myself on being able to anticipate what Eliza needed in her life. All I wanted was to make her happy, and luckily, it seemed like I was actually doing a good job of that.
She leaned back and looked at me before pulling me in for another kiss. The heat inside of me intensified, and I felt that familiar spark racing up all over again. Time had done nothing to dull the chemistry between Eliza and me – I didn’t think it ever would. She was so beautiful, so sexy, and luckily, she seemed to feel the same way about me. She seemed to have the same fire for this that I did.
“Come on.” I pulled her toward her room. “I think your room has missed us. It hasn’t had any action for months. It’s time to give it some new memories.”
“Oh, God, I know it must be so disappointed,” she teased, moving along with me. “How could we have been so cruel?”
She was happier now, and I was, too. I felt like that would go forward with us, making both of our lives better than ever.
Epilogue
Eliza – Two Years Later
“Ugh, it feels so good to be back!” I exclaimed, dropping my bags on the floor of the cabin, feeling that warm sense of home all over again.
Traveling around a lot for Milo’s work, and my own now that I did a lot of creative hairdressing all over the country, plus splitting our time between the two homes made it very difficult to ever feel truly settled, but to be honest, the lifestyle suited me. It had been two years, and until something dramatic happened that forced us to stop, I didn’t see any point in slowing down for one minute.
“Tell me about it!” Milo exclaimed, sounding just as worn out as I felt. “I never truly feel relaxed unless we’re here.”
“Well, don’t get too settled; I’m sure Laynee will be over soon. Apparently, she has some big news.”
“What do you think it is?” he asked curiously, genuinely interested in the antics of my crazy friend.
“Oh, I don’t know – you know what she’s like, it could be anything!” I started pulling random items out of my bag, trying to uncover a certain top that I wanted to find. I never knew where any of my clothes were because they often got left behind at one home or another. “At least she has Landon to calm her down a bit; he’s like a Godsend in her life.”
“Good thing I introduced them, right?” Milo sounded far too pleased with himself, causing me to send him an unimpressed look. “Anyway, that’s fine; you two can catch up while I’m out.”
“Where are you going?” My ears pricked up excitedly. It was our two-year anniversary, and I kept getting the idea that he had something amazing planned. Mostly because he hadn’t even mentioned it yet. Last year, he had the most amazing night ever planned, and he wasn’t the type to forget.
“Oh, I need to see Landon,” he replied evasively. “I have some business stuff to do.”
I started to pout, irritation starting to get the better of me, but that was totally zapped from me when Veil bounded to my side and started barking for food. “Come on, boy.” I smiled, petting him. He could always alter my mood, even when it was at its lowest. “Let’s go and get you something to eat.”
“You have absolutely ruined that dog,” Milo mock scolded. “He used to be so well disciplined before you came along. Honestly, sometimes I think you’re the worst thing to happen to us both.” Luckily, he finished that joke by kissing me hard, making me smile brightly. “Okay, I do have to go, but I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
I didn’t have much time to mope about being alone, a sensation I wasn’t used to anymore, because it was only a couple of seconds later that I heard Laynee pulling up in her car. It had been a while since we saw each other because we both had such heavy schedules, so I was super excited to reconnect.
“Laynee!” I yelled through the door. “Come in quick.” I turned to go back in and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. My heart stopped dead in my chest as I slowly spun back around, a weird terror coursing through my veins. Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing? Is this real?
I flicked my eyes up and down her body, noticing a very obvious difference. Either she’d been eating a whole bunch of foods that caused her to have a rounded stomach or she was actually having a baby.
“Are you?” I gasped in shock, my hands covering my mouth. “Really?”
“Yep.” Tears were running down her face before we’d even talked about it. “Landon and I are having a baby. We just had the ultrasound this morning and found out that we’re having a boy.”
“How did you keep this from me?” I screamed, throwing my arms around her. “This is insane.”
“Well, we didn’t want to tell anyone for a while, and I knew that I wanted to say it to your face, so I had to wait.”
Oh great, now I’m sobbing, too. What a damn mess. “I’m just so happy for you,” I told her thickly. “You’re going to be the best mom ever.”
“Oh, well, I don’t know about that,” she replied modestly. “But I am excited, we both are. Luckily, I’ve got a few staff members in the salon now, so maternity leave won’t be an issue.”
“That’s utterly incredible.” I shook my head in amazement. Who would have ever thought that we’d end up here? It was amazing what could happen in a short time. “I don’t even know what to say. When are you due? I’ll have to be back here for when you give birth.”
She glanced at her watch, as if some terrible thought had struck her. “Come on, let’s go inside,” she announced rapidly. “I’ll give you all the details as I do your hair.”
It was all starting to come together. However much he tried to hide it, it was obvious that Milo had a plan for the night. Well, if that was the case, I was more than happy to go along with it. I was excited to know what he had planned. “Oh, sure, whatever you say.”
***
Whatever Milo had planned for me seemed even more over the top than last year. Not only had Laynee spent hours styling my hair in a very lovely, delicate way, Milo had also sent her with a glamorous designer dress that hugged my curves perfectly. It was almost as if it had been designed to fit my body exactly, which, knowing him, wouldn’t surprise me.
“You look incredible.” Laynee clapped her hands together excitedly, acting a little bit like a child. “That dress is wonderful.”
I spun about, looking at my body from every angle in the mirror, and I had to say that I agreed. It wasn’t often that I thought I looked great, but in this dress, all done up, I just couldn’t ignore it.
“Do you know what the plan is?” I asked her anxiously. “I don’t know if I’m ready for a night out on the town.”
“Trust me, you’ll love it,” she told me with a knowing smile, driving me even more crazy. It was so frustrating that I had no idea what was happening, and even worse that Laynee knew and was ma
naging to keep it to herself. Since when did she get so good at keeping secrets from me? “You’re going to have the best night ever! Oh, hang on; I think that’s him.”
I peeked out of the window, my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting to see, a limo maybe, but what I got was actually a very cool vintage car. At least that went some way to calming down my pounding heart. It wasn’t going to be all serious.
“Good luck,” Laynee mysteriously told me, kissing me on the cheek. “And, I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nodded quickly and made my way outside, finding Milo in a ravishing tuxedo. He still had the ability to make my heart skip a beat and still turned my legs into jelly. It didn’t matter how much time I spent with him, how many times I saw him sick or in a bad mood, I still loved him like crazy. That wasn’t ever going away.
“What’s all this?” I enquired, leaning in to kiss him. “Is it a special day or something?”
“Oh, as if you haven’t been agonizing over it all day long,” he chuckled. “You’ve probably gotten everything out of Laynee already!”
“Actually, no, I haven’t,” I pouted jokingly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’d gotten very good at keeping secrets recently.”
“Ah, so you heard the good news then? Isn’t that amazing? Landon is over the moon.”
I nodded, but I felt all confused and weird. Whenever we were doing our thing, I enjoyed it like mad, but whenever I was in Florence, I yearned to stay. That sensation had gotten even worse with the knowledge that Laynee was about to have a baby. I wanted to be there, to see her child grow.
Still, it didn’t matter – it wasn’t like I’d never get to see him grow. It was just the way things were.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he finally pulled up by Landon’s boats. “What is all this?”
“We’re going out for a fishing trip,” he teased, causing me to roll my eyes. Was I never going to hear the end of that one? “No, we’re going out on the boat.”
